interviews. >> you guys are great. you guys are great. >> and many are done -- >> i voted for him in 2008 and i plan to stick with him in 2012. i'll be voting for he and for vice president joe biden. >> i quonder why. >> the governor who was speaking on monday night at the debate was saying things that were quite different from what he said earlier. >> you can't remember what you just said last week. >> what is the cure for romnesia? >> obama care covers pre-existing conditions. >> this fall i'm supporting richard mourdock for senate. >> he was asked again by reporters about this matter. he did not respond to those questions. >> what he said was kind of crazy. >> it doesn't change the definition. >> rape is rape. it is a crime. >> not familiar with precisely with exactly what i said but i stand by what i said whatever it was. ♪

we are just a dirty dozen days from the presidential election, and with the polls tight in the seven tossup states, you might call this the lightning round where with the candidates racing across the ghunt a furious fight for those 270 electoral votes. the president is in the air after a massive rally in virginia in the midst of an eight-state battleground blitz. he's due to land in chicago within the hour to become the first president to cast an early vote before heading off to ohio. the challenger, mitt romney, has just wrapped up at his second event today in that most crucial state, the one that's picked every president since 1960. the state that no republican has ever won the white house without. a new "time" magazine poll has the president up five points in ohio by the way, but never mind, earlier today in cincinnati,

romney sounded resplendent and utterly triumphant. >> i mean, do you want real big change in this country? well, you're going to get it on november 6th. >> oh, yes, a romney white house would bring change already. and not just the addition of dressage on the north lawn. what would that change look like say on foreign policy, for example? i know, let's ask former secretary of state general colin powell. >> the governor who was speaking on monday night at the debate was saying things that were quite different from what he said earlier. so i'm not quite sure which governor romney we would be getting with respect to foreign policy. >> he went on to call romney's foreign policy is moving target, but, okay, we know he's not got much foreign policy experience. what about his big economic change? >> it's essentially let's cut taxes and compensate for that with other things, but that

compensation does not cover all of the cuts intended or the new expenses associated with defense. >> yeah, i guess it's that arithmetic that's missing again. but listen, "the washington post" has been covering mr. romney throughout his seven-year campaign for the presidency. surely they've got it sorted out. quote, the sad answer is there is no way to know what mr. romney really believes. his swings have been dramatic on gay rights, gun rights, health care, climate change and immigration. oh, dear, this isn't going very well, is it? voters are left with the centerpiece of mr. romney's campaign. promise tax cuts that would blow a much bigger hole in the federal budget while worsening economic inequality. his claims he could avoid those negative effects which defy math and which he refuses to back up with actual proposals are more insulting than reassuring.

wlaets get right to our panel inform washington. eugene robinson, an msnbc analyst and a pulitzer prize winning columnist for the aforementioned "washington post" and here in new york richard wolffe is the vice president and executive editor of msnbc.com. romney has been saying the democrats have a shrinking campaign because all they want to talk about is abortion. we've been talking for 12 months about mitt romney's economic plan. we've been talking for two years about his central thesis for the presidency, what he wants to do, and what we have today is someone as esteem as general colin powell saying he, too, has looked at mr. romney carefully and decided the man is vac cuous and has nothing to stand on. >> by the way, would he have been talking for 11 years about

the conservative foreign policy where mitt romney wants to extend. >> except he hid it in the debate. >> right. well, there is a real difference on what kind of person is he that's willing to change at the last minute just to sound good in a debate, but even if you take it at face value and say, no, he really is the guy who represents his policies as they at least are on the website so the extent we can get our arms around them, there has been a real engagement about how the budget should be balanced, what the balances between tax cuts in romney's case no tax revenues at a all, only tax cuts -- >> indeed. >> and --

>> right. you gene, general powell said he's not comfortable with the economic plan that romney is offering and then he said mr. romney's foreign policy is a moving target. that is a general saying from a military perspective almost exactly what the president said, that this man is all over the map and as steady as a drunk on new year's eve. >> the military men and women, as you know, do like a certain precision, and you get none from governor romney. but general powell is absolutely right. when you look at what romney was saying about iran, for example, before the debate versus what he said during the debate. during the debate he wants peace. he sounded buddhist almost in his desire for peace around the world. yet his rhetoric leading up to that, in fact, his rhetoric for

years has been so bellicose. giving the green light to the israelis for a strike whenever they like against iran, just one example of this more belligerent attitu attitude. >> by the way, just to pick up on that, one thing he unveiled in the debate was this idea of prosecuting ahmadinejad, the iranian leader. >> for genocide. >> this from a party that doesn't believe in the international criminal court. one of his many advisers thinks you can take on the top six floors of the u.n. he's way out of the mainstream of his party. his advisers say we don't agree with any of this, but we don't agree with ahmadinejad. there's no consistency to this party anymore, not just to the candidate. whatever they used to be in terms of ideological coherence to republicans and conservatives in general, mitt romney just blew it up. >> indeed. we saw the endorsements for the president over mr. etch-a-sketch, but doug

brinkley's piece offers a quite different view. can i quote, obama must be judged by the things he won't allow to happen on his watch. wall street thieving, bush-style nis c fiscal irresponsible, the reversal of roe v. wade. if he loses romney and ryan will crush his initiatives without remorse. that's right, isn't it? if you're a young person who is currently covered by health care, you can kiss that good-bye. if you're a young person who is relying on pel grants, you can kiss that good-bye. >> if you take mitt romney at his word, there's no way the industry will accept it unless you have a mandate which he also dislikes. his promises or at least the things he says he likes doesn't stack up with what he says he will deliver. to doug's point, if you think the reforms that this president and the last congress enacted are going to stop wall street thieving, you're smoking

something that rolling stone probably understands very well. you know, this will not stop wall street thieving. the fact that wall street hates this president may be a feather in the cap for some progressives and maybe even this president, but there is nobody on wall street who really thinks for all the annoyance and for all the personal disruption to their social life that being called a fat cat entails, nothing has been solved. >> i'm sure that's true. eugene, republicans are rather peeved as a comment by the president in that rolling stone piece, asked about his affinity for young kids, the president joked, quote, kids have good instincts. they can look at the other guy and say, well what's that pull spitter, except he didn't say bull spitter. i guess he's been hanging out with joe biden again. >> i guess he has. candor erupts in the most unexpected places. he's been in the middle of an interview. >> from the babes in suckling. >> exactly. but what can you say?

look, inconsistency, thy name is romney, absolutely. to the earlier point about what there is, what's at stake in this election, and the abortion issue, supreme court nominees are always vital and you can imagine what kind of people mitt romney is going to nominate versus what kind of people president obama would name to the court. in so far as we can tell what mitt romney believes, a lot of it people really need to take a look at it. >> indeed. a final point to you, richard, it's just 12 days but those 12 days could decide a woman's control over her own body, could they not, because if romney is elected to eugene's point, he's more than likely to select to nominate the kind of person that would tip the supreme court so that that 1973 ruling could be in jeopardy. >> and with a republican congress, he said he would be

delighted to sign a federal law banning abortion. he is the moderate in his party because he believes there should be an exception for rape. that's a moderate position in this republican party and as rachel maddow points out, that's almost impossible to enforce. he sounds moderate, he's really not. these are really serious issues people should bear in mind. >> thank you so much. richard wolffe and eugene robinson. next, mitt can run, but you know what? he can also hide from the media. the shrinking candidate when we come back. >> what's this thing with trump and you? it's like me and letterman. what does he got against you? i don't get it. >> this all dates back to when we were growing up together in kenya. >> yeah. >> we had constant run-ins on the soccer field. he wasn't very good and resented

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within the last 24 hours of this election campaign, the president has conducted sit-down interview was jay leno and brian williams in between a nonstop schedule of swing state campaigning. mitt romney is similarly racing back and forth across the country conducting interviews with nobody. yes, mr. romney's campaign is indicating to reporters that he and paul ryan are done with answering those questions, but if you want to be president of this great country, then it may not be possible to avoid questions on the most explosive story of the day, even in a diner. >> governor -- >> which way are we going?

>> governor, do you disavow mourdock's comments. >> joining us from washington is david corn, the man mitt romney can thank for breaking the 47% story, and michael scherer, correspondent for "time" whose story about why ohio will decide the election is in the latest issue. isn't mr. romney doing the right thing in wearing a burqa in front of the media because if he answers any questions about richard mourdock it's a short way to his ryan's position? >> i think the romney campaign would be wise to invest a lot of money in duct tape. you know how those protesters walk around with duct tape. they don't want them to say anything now. just scripted talking points at rallies, not do any interviews. it's not just the richard mourdock stuff. there's a million and one follow-up questions to the last three debates, including the one

we watched together in boca. he said we don't want any more iraq wars, remember that line? >> i do. >> i'd love to see someone come up and say you supported the iraq war. do you think it's not a good thing? it wasn't a good thing in is that why you don't want any more? can you please explain yourself, governor romney? you know, reporters like you and i and michael, we crave the opportunity to grill these guys and mitt romney has nothing to gain. i was about to say nothing to bain. nothing to gain from questions about bain or anything else. >> indeed, that's true. this isn't the first time the romney campaign has stopped taking questions. he once went over a month starting in march without taking a single question from a reporter. he says that democrats want to talk about abortion because there's is a shrinking campaign, but romney doesn't want to talk about anything because he's literally on the run from journalists. he's on the run. >> well, he wants to talk about his message. there are a couple things to point out. >> no, he doesn't. he doesn't want to talk about

misme his message. >> but his message has nothing to do with your question. >> absolutely. >> his message is a story line his campaign has scripted. he comes in the debates, shows up next to president obama -- >> he tells lies, he's revisionistic, they bear no reference to the things he said 15 minutes ago and none of us can ask him a question. >> yeah. >> exactly. >> and he can ride momentum into election day. he has a ton of money on tv. it should also be pointed out, there have been periods in the campaign where it's been flipped. the romney campaign has been criticizing the president. there's a period in august a few weeks where the president didn't give interviews and he was criticizing him as being silent. it's just sort of the ebb and flow of the campaign but it's clearly the case right now that president obama is trying to show he is working hard to win the american vote. he's doing all these interviews, doing the all-nighters, and mitt romney is trying to project this air of confidence that there's momentum behind him and he's riding his way to the white house. >> an air of confidence.

hilarious. david, one of those questions an intrepid reporter who works for, say, mother jones magazine, might ask, is why a convicted tax cheat was at that 45% fund-raiser. is that a fair question? >> that's one of many questions. we have a story out today in mother jones at that fund-raiser where he made those 47% remarks, there was actually a donor there named jim batmasian who literally went to jail for not paying a quarter million dollars in taxes he owed on his employees and his wife marta is on the state fund-raising committee for romney in florida, $50,000 she paid for her and her husband to eat and listen and denigrate americans who don't pay taxes. >> i'm sorry, david, explain that to me because i may be stupid, but here is a man who

derides the population, 50% of them, for not paying taxes and sitting in one of the chairs in front of him is a tax cheat, fraud par excellence. >> mitt romney pays 13%, 14% and we still don't know what he paid for years prior to 2010. this whole tax issue, his own personal tax issue, has really faded at the end of the game and in some ways you can look at it as like the great dodge. he got away with not releasing those tax returns. everyone said they'd have to come out, he couldn't do this, they'd have to come out. it seems like he's in the running now without ever releasing all those tax returns or answering dozens of questions. again, not talking to reporters, answering dozens of questions about his personal finances. >> final question to you, mike, can he do this in 12 days? can he literally not say anything, not give us any deductions, not give us any loopholes he's going to close that would make his economic plan for the nation work, won't say anything, won't release his

tax returns, doesn't really know much about foreign policy, but can he get those -- through those 12 days saying nothing? >> he will keep saying what he's saying but he can get through the next 12 days. there's a tradition the closing days of the campaign, you basically go from airport to airport and give your stump speech over and over again. you rely on tv and your ground game. i don't think they won't give any interview over the next 12 days -- >> fox news. >> yeah, come on, mike. >> i'm sure it will be very sparse pickings. you know, right now romney is not exactly where he wants to be, but there's still hope for him to take this. the polls are close enough. he has a real path to victory here. it's not clear how likely that path s but it's there and it's available to him. >> and it's likelier, martin, if he doesn't say much. >> yes, indeed. david corn and michael scherer, thank you for joining us. stay with us. we have much more ahead.

>> tied to -- look, i don't blame that baby for crying. she just realize what had it means if romney gets elected. it's okay. he's not going to get elected. you're going to be okay. you're going to be okay. [ female announcer ] the next generation of investing technology is now within your grasp with the e-trade 360 investing dashboard. e-trade 360 is the world's first investing homepage that shows you where all your investments are and what they're doing with free streaming quotes, news, analysis and even your trade ticket. everything exactly the way you want it, all on one page. transform your investing with the e-trade 360 investing dashboard. i was skeptical at first. but after awhile even my girlfriend noticed a difference.

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call today. ♪ anyone have occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating? yeah. one phillips' colon health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. approved! [ phillips' lady ] live the regular life. phillips'. as we reported earlier, the romney campaign is going to great lengths to avoid taking any questions of any kind, and that doesn't just go for the presidential candidate. we're learning that poul raul r with not participate in a scheduled town hall. according to a press release ryan and reid were supposed to begin the call at 6:00 p.m. eastern.

now, i had warm thoughts of a glass of burgundy to my left, phone to my right calling in with a question of my own, perhaps about a certain senate candidate from indiana and mr. ryan's shared view on the miracle of conception. however, that conception may occur. it was to our great disappointment to learn moments before our broadcast that the event is now off. that the whole thing according to the ryan campaign was an erroneous report. the event you see listed here, an erroneous report. we called the faith and freedom coalition and they insisted there was nothing erroneous about the release, that the town hall. been agreed upon last week. when asked why mr. ryan would call his participation an erroneous report, we were told by the coalition, quote, it was unclear. what is clear is that the romney/ryan ticket knows precisely how toxic mr. mourdock's rape comments are and they know how damaging mr. ryan's own views on a woman's right to choose may prove to the

electorate. so a telly town hall meeting where the questions would be screamed by the conservative faith in freedom coalition, let me repeat, the questions would be prescreened, that forum was apparently too hot for poor mr. ryan to handle. >> we are not going to duck these tough issues. we will not duck the tough questions. we will lead. >> mr. p90x, mr. bulging biceps, mr. 6% body fat, but still too soft to take any questions. what a wuss. stay with us. the day's "top lines" are coming up. [ male announcer ] there are only so many foods that make kids happy. and even fewer that make moms happy too. with wholesome noodles and bite sized chicken, nothing brings you together like chicken noodle soup from campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do.

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on gasoline. i am probably going to the gas station about once a month. last time i was at a gas station was about...i would say... two months ago. i very rarely put gas in my chevy volt. i go to the gas station such a small amount that i forget how to put gas in my car. [ male announcer ] and it's not just these owners giving the volt high praise. volt received the j.d. power and associates appeal award two years in a row. ♪ from drowning in the nonsense of donald trump to mitt suddenly mum. here are today's "top lines," no sleep until election day. >> no sleep.

starting here in iowa, we're going colorado, then we're going to go to nevada, then we're going to florida, virginia, ohio. i am going to stop in chicago to vote. >> i'm optimistic, not just about winning. we are going to win. >> you're fighting for your life in a 47/47 race. >> we always knew it was going to be a close race. joots good to be here in ohio or as joe biden would say here in iowa. >> i don't blame that baby for crying. she just realized what it means if romney gets elected. >> i'm not sure which governor romney we'd be getting. >> if he releases these records, it will end the anger of many americans. >> donald trump essentially trying to publicly extort the president of the united states. >> i've had tremendous praise for the most part. i don't think condemn is the word. >> the president is a contestant in some kind of imaginary game show he's hosting. >> it's knotted a publicity stunt. >> this all dates back to when we were growing up together in kenya. >> he has to have it on halloween. he's renting out his enormous

orange head as a jack-o'-lantern. >> last year michelle gave out fruit. >> it is an election year so sandy for everybody. if anybody comes from ohio to the white house, they will get a hershey bar about this big. >> there is not now a single poll in the state of ohio that shows mitt romney ahead. >> la, la, la, we can't hear you. >> going to place a bet on the world series? >> i didn't want to let detroit go bankrupt, i may be a little partial. >> shocked face. >> let me update my days without a gop rape mex aboard. >> that's a call above my pay grade. >> i'ming richard mourdock for senate. >> that's distinctions don't make any sense to me. >> when asked why he didn't want to mick any more public statements, romney was like, um, because i want to win. >> i'm joined by krystal ball, co-host of "the cycle" and joy reid, also managing editor of

thegrio.com. joy, we have a live picture, i believe, of the president who has just landed in chicago. he's been greeted by people. he was just met by rahm emanuel in the corner of the picture. on to the issue, joy, that is dominating so many republican minds, the use of this four-letter word rape. now, we had sharon engel some time ago suggest that a child who conceives as a result of incest russ rape should turn lemon into lemon aids. we had that wisconsin state rep who said some girls rape easy, to the latest richard mourdock. honestly, is this a political party that is now at ease with sexual violation? >> it's frightening and i think that a lot of times democrats look at the republican party and think this might just be one or two fringe people who are sort of insane but when you drill deeper into the mindset really of the conservative movement, it's quite consistent. it is a deep ideological belief

that life begins at conception which i think that's their belief and that's fine, but it's now bled over into an almost disdain for women and a thought that women really have only one function, to be the vessel for the production of children. anything else that women do is taking them away from their core mission. if they're working, if they're asking for equal pay, all these things take away. when you now get to this idea that the woman is so unimportant, so irrelevant, that even rape is not an impediment to her prime directive so she needs to suck it up, have the baby, and if she doesn't like it, the state will make her do it because that is all women are good for. i think it speaks to a disdain for women, speaks to an incredible callusness towards women and it is wider than we think. it is not one or two people. it is an almost common belief among conservatives. >> joy, this campaign they've been throwing this word out on a regular basis. >> absolutely. >> krystal, if rape, and we accept that some men are the victims of rape, but if rape

happened more often to men, would they be treating it in the way they are, these republicans who use it as a term with such -- as joy says, with such contempt. >> and certainly if men were the ones who ever had to bear the child themselves, there would be a completely different attitude on i think abortion and choice as a whole, and as joy's pointing out, i mean, this is the platform of the party. no abortions, no exceptions, it doesn't matter if it's rape, doesn't matter if it's incest. the life of the mother. and this is not where the american people are, but i think what you see in instances like todd akin and instances like richard mourdock and sharon engel, is they are trying to come up with some mental internal justification for how this could be okay. so in todd akin's case, he has to come up with some magical science that the woman's body has these magical powers to shut down production if it happens to be a rape, a legitimate rape, and with richard mourdock, he has to turn it into, you know,

this is god's will, this is what is supposed to happen, so you then are supposed to bear that burden. i think it's all looking for a way to make this position, which is not okay, feel okay. >> but the political fallout directly, joy, i want to put this to you, because republican christine todd whitman says richard mourdock's comments damage all republicans and especially romney as the fight for the woman's vote intensifies. this could be a defining moment for romney, and he should immediately denounce both myrrh you can do and the comment. that's true. >> yeah, it's absolutely true. mitt romney, now we have to decide is either powerless in the face of the religious right or a complete coward and refusing to accept his role as the supposed titular leader of the republican party to walk away from it. the fact that he can't demonstrates his weakness in the face of this group, this hard-core group within his party, none of whom, by the way, have the courage to look a rape victim in the eye and say it to her. they don't say it to women.

they say it in general about women. >> in general. >> and romney doesn't have the guts to tell them no. this was his moment to show leadership. he failed again. >> krystal, how do you explain the new ap poll that suggests romney has been able to erase the gender gap among women. it has him tied with the president. >> and it has the president tied with romney among men, neither of which is an accurate reflection of where we actually are. this poll is an outlier. it's open for debate how wide the gender gap is, but the fact that one still exists i think is pretty apparent, and to joy's point about the political fallout, i think you're right. i think it does go to a question of character and leadership. we saw mitt romney fail in this area when sandra fluke was attacked by rush limbaugh and he was unable to condemn those attacks, but it serves as a reminder how extreme the republican party is on this issue. it reminds women of todd akin

and the platform. it reminds them of their discomfort with mitt romney being the one that picks the next supreme court justice. so at this time in the campaign it could not be a worse moment for romney. >> joy, also reminds me that paul ryan, who is on the ticket, is a co-sponsor with todd akin of legislation in this regard. >> absolutely. the personhood amendments, the stuff about saying it would be almost a felony i guess for a woman to get an abortion. look how he parses it when ryan describes, well, romney is the head of the ticket and he supports exceptions for rape and incest because, you know what? ryan doesn't. there isn't a dime's worth of difference between paul ryan's beliefs on this issues and mr. mourdock's. even if you look in that poll, i think they're instructive even when year outliers. in overall voters obama is ahead 48/40. when you drill into the likely voter model, they're tied. what is the preponderance in the poll, it's the southerners, the

south. that poll is telling you romney's base now is a group of very conservative mainly southern americans who have really byzantine in a lot of ways beliefs about women. >> indeed. final question to you, krystal. 12 days to go, romney and ryan are skeschewing all interview opportunities. we showed him earlier running away from the press. i guess they just lock this down for 12 days and stop revealing what they really think? >> well, i think it's a very bad strategy because if the election is held today, they would lose. you know, the national popular vote is basically tied, but if you look at ohio, if you look at wisconsin, nevada, iowa, new hampshire, the president has a lead and a substantial lead. so they have to do something to shake up this election in order to win and not talking to reporters is not going to get the job done. >> and sending ann romney on "the view" might not be enough. >> and the great bombshell from donald trump. >> krystal ball, joy reid, thank

you. next, mitt goes full steam ahead with his ridiculous broadside against the president. stay with us. >> now, sadly it is too late for richard mourdock. these comments have left his campaign in shambles, but you know what? don't shed a tear, folks, because i have come to realize that this is just something that god intended to happen. ♪ constipated? yeah. mm. some laxatives like dulcolax can cause cramps. but phillips' caplets don't. they have magnesium. for effective relief of occasional constipation. thanks. [ phillips' lady ] live the regular life. phillips'.

>> now, sadly it is too late for

so anyway, i've been to a lot of places. richard mourdock. sfx: loud noise of large metal object hitting the ground)

things have been a little strange. (sfx: sound of piano smashing) roadrunner: meep meep. meep meep? (sfx: loud thud sound) what a strange place. geico®. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. why are you speaking for me. i wasn't satisfied. i never said i was satisfied. >> you weren't? >> i never -- >> excuse me, who is satisfied? >> donald trump has got at least one thing in common with muddy waters, he just can't be satisfied, and who can blame him? his promise to unveil an enormous political bombshell that would probably affect the presidential election turned out to be no more than a steaming pile of horse manure. let's bring in dana mill bank,

political columnist for "the washington post" and goldie taylor, who is managing editor of the goldie taylor project. the donald may have set a new standard for anticlimax and you write about it very per sec tiffly in your column. you say, mr. trump released at high noon on wednesday who had the look of a ransom video in which the donald himself appearing puffy and unwell played a character that was part doctor evil, part kracrazy eddi. i guess that wuts him somewhere between a man with meantle illness and satan. is that right? >> i suppose so. if the guy didn't have an awful lot of money, we wouldn't be paying any attention to him whatsoever. i think everybody sort of knew he'd run out of gas but he was doing it again so people said all right, they started the betting, they said what is it going to be, some bombshell about drug use or marital problems? he had nothing at all but it was pleasant so see this time that he was denounced not from the

left, but just from everybody, and i think they just want donald trump to go away. he's going to have trouble doing this again. >> goldie, wasn't donald's bonl shell though just another variation on his favorite dog whistle? he talks about the president's academic records because what he's implying is affirmative action, despite all the evidence, he suggests this president doesn't have the intellectual merit to qualify as president. >> you know, i predicted this last year when i talked about him in my video "show me your papers." donald trump is never going to be finished with this president. he was soundly, roundly ewe mill yated at the white house press correspondent's dinner. donald trump is still smarting from that. wile e. coyote sets a better trap than donald trump. $5 million so the president will release to him of all people his passport and his college

records. that wouldn't even be enough for donald trump. what's going on here is that, you know, bigotry, thy name is donald trump. donald trump wouldn't be doing this to anyone else but an african-american president and donald trump wouldn't be allowed to get away with it but for he being a white man. this is privilege at its worst on display and it just happens to be happening on national television. >> dana, you said in your column that trump's failure only raises the stakes for gloria allred's october surprise. there are 12 days left. what is that surprise going to be do you think? >> well, i mean, at least there is something to that surprise in that there is a legitimate court case. it sounds like testimony will come out that mitt romney made apparently, according to the allegations, downplaying the value of staples so his business partner did well in his divorce proceedings. even if true, that was 20 years

ago and it's a bit tangential. it's hard to see -- >> i don't know though. you say it's tangential but that sounds to me like a classic bain action. you go in and undervalue in order to exploit. he was only doing what he did in his career. he just gave the advice to someone who was in the middle of a divorce. >> i think what i'm say something two weeks before the election i doubt that that's going to shift things by itself, but that does pile something else onto the burden that romney is carrying regarding bain. in contrast to the trump thing which i think is just a sheer amusement and entertainment. >> goldie, speaking of people who don't know when to quit, mr. romney after being humiliated on the size and modernity of the navy is actually doubling down and running an ad that continues to promote his idea of a navy from 1917 being better resourced than today. is there a reason for why he keeps repeating his own embarrassment on this? >> sure. mitt romney is likely the most

self-unaware candidate we've seen on the national stage in a very long time. he just doesn't know when to stop. i mean, it was a list lesson in military history and strategy that unlike any i have seen in any foreign policy debate. to say we need a larger naval fleet today than maybe we needed in 1917. 1917 was a time when we needed lots of ships, and so this is one of those things where mitt romney really just ought to back off and let it alone. >> dana, goldie, thank you both so much. next, the president prepares to cast his ballot and reminds millioning to get out and vote. tyler mathisen has the cnbc market wrap. >> thank you. it was a wishy wash way day but a two day lossing streak was broken. it was 4s for the standard & poor's and nasdaq as they ended higher by 4 shares. apple shares about to retrade.

they had been halted. the company's earnings out. they were a little disappointing. the stock may open lower. we'll be back right after this. ♪ [ male announcer ] this is karen and jeremiah. they don't know it yet, but they're gonna fall in love, get married, have a couple of kids, [ children laughing ] move to the country, and live a long, happy life together where they almost never fight about money. [ dog barks ] because right after they get married, they'll find some retirement people who are paid on salary, not commission. they'll get straightforward guidance and be able to focus on other things, like each other, which isn't rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade.

the president is about to do something that no other president has ever done, vote early. two whole weeks before the election. he arrived in chicago a short time ago and, yes, he's practicing what he's preached throughout this campaign, that people should avail themselves of the convenience of early voting, and nbc's mike viqueira joins us live from the white house. mike, the president has inendured some tough days but today with colin powell and "the washington post" endorsing and after voting in chicago he will head back to ohio where unemployment is at its lowest since 2008 with 7 of 8 ohio counties reporting 6% jobless rates or lower. that's not a bad thursday for the president,? >> reporter: especially when the president can take credit for a measure of that certainly,

something he's hit on time and time again and hit minimum romney with and that is his help for the auto industry after that famous headline that the president has reminded us of so many times, let detroit go bankrupt. the president is having a day -- you know, martin, we've reached the bell lap of this campaign. you can tell the president finishing up his whirlwind two-day tour. he's been sort of like this frantic pace of the campaign now. the delirium is setting in. he spoke to an enormous crowd in richmond before heading off to chicago. when he does get to chicago, this will be another milestone for the president, he will be the first ever sitting president to vote in person early ballot, early voting initiative. there are other presidents, of course, who have mailed in absentee ballots and he goes to chicago after that -- i'm sorry to cleveland after that where the obama campaign is touting yet another advantage it sees in the buckeye state, and that is according to a "time" magazine poll, it's been disputed by the

romney xap, in the early voting, the president leads 60% to 30%. a lot of people have questions about that figure. the romney campaign says these are simply vote worries would be voting for president obama anyway either now or on election day. they say they're cannibalizing the vote but not turning out new voters but a signature can't margin it true nonetheless. >> can you tell us with the president conducting a conference call with something like 9,000 undecided voters. >> it was off to los angeles to appear on "the jay leno show" and while he was airborne this 9,000 undecided voters, they identified somehow 9,000 undecided voters around the country, sort of a complicated logistical thing. they had to send out robocalls to significantly more people than that, 9,000 calls back and the president conducted a conference call asking for their vote. >> remarkable. nbc's mike viqueira, thanks so much, mike. we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] humana and walmart have teamed up

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[ male announcer ] try the e-trade 360 investing dashboard. it's time now to "clear the air" and it's often said you can tell a man by the company he keeps, and within the last 24 hours two of mr. romney's closest supporters have exposed themselves and their friend for what they are. first, there's richard mourdock of indiana who talks about rape as something no worse than a less than perfect christmas present. but mr. romney is standing by his man recommending mr. mourdock as the one individual likely to tip the senate toward the republican party. >> there's so much at stake. i hope you'll downmi in supporting richard mourdock for u.s. senate. >> see how close they are? but do they seem like men who have a genuine interest in the victims of this horrifying crime? have they ever done anything to

support women who may have been violated in this way? to follow that clown is the ring master himself, the man whose artificial appearance is only matched by the stupidity of his pronouncements. here was the latest, demanding the president release his academic history in exchange for a $5 million donation to charity. >> if he releases these records, it will end the question and, indeed, the anger of many americans. >> no, mr. trump. releasing those academic records will only fuel your racist anger because you know exactly what you're implying. so there you have it. trump, mourdock, and romney, a blue chip firm of fools comprising a bone head, a mutton head, and an air head. thanks so much for watching. chris matthews and "hardball" is next. return of the clown car. let's play "hardball."